Chapter 103 - 99: Feinting East, Attacking West
Chapter 103: Chapter 99: Feinting East, Attacking West
The air in the midnight swamp gradually cooled, dropping to its lowest point of the day. The wind blowing through the hollows had grown much cooler.
Velin handed a small bottle of pale green liquid to Ola.
"Glimmer Potion. Hold it under your tongue, and for the next hour, your vision will be as sharp as a cat’s."
Ola Stonebeard took the vial, its delicate form dwarfed by his thick fingers.
He pulled the cork and poured the potion into his mouth. A bitter, metallic taste immediately filled it.
The darkness before him faded away, and the world transformed into a black-and-white sketch of sharp, distinct lines.
But the nagging feeling that something was wrong grew stronger.
He sidled up to Velin, his voice as low as a grinding millstone. "Velin, I have to say, something’s not right with this plan. These two hundred Bader Dung Beetles are elites, heavy-armored units, and you’re having them beat on the sidelines? That’s like using a sledgehammer to blow a whistle! The right way to do this is to concentrate all our forces, follow me, and punch through at a single point! We tear open a breach, and then we’ll have a chance!"
In his philosophy of war, elites were meant for the most critical assault, like a red-hot dagger plunged into the enemy’s softest underbelly.
Velin didn’t turn around. His spyglass remained fixed on the valley entrance.
"Ola, you just need to trust my judgment. And then, when it’s time for you to swing your warhammer, give it everything you’ve got."
Those calm words silenced all of Ola’s complaints.
He could only stare into the darkness, cursing inwardly. ’If this plan fails, I swear I’ll smash Velin’s head open with my warhammer to see if it’s filled with brains or just mud.’
Suddenly, on the distant flank of the valley, a faint green light flickered once, then vanished.
That was the signal from Ryo.
"It’s starting," Velin said softly.
THUD! THUD! THUD!
It was as if dozens of giant bone drums were being beaten simultaneously outside the valley, the sound dense and heavy.
Ola could picture it—hundreds of huge beetles, lined up, taking turns ramming their hard carapaces against the rock fortifications the giant crocodiles had built. One would strike and retreat, and the next would take its place.
They weren’t trying to break through the defensive line, just creating an irritating noise.
Ceaselessly, over and over.
"ROOOAR—!"
Inside the valley, enraged roars rose one after another.
Through his spyglass, Ola could clearly see the behemoths growing agitated and restless.
They paced back and forth within their positions, their massive tails irritably slapping the ground and sending up great splashes of mud.
The harassment continued for nearly ten minutes.
Finally, a slightly smaller adult giant crocodile couldn’t take it anymore. It let out a ferocious roar and was the first to charge out of the rock fortifications, chasing after the source of the noise.
Its action was like a signal.
The heavy thud of their footfalls was like thunder, and the ground began to tremble slightly.
Through his spyglass, Ola saw a large group of dark shapes charge out of the crude checkpoint. They had abandoned the defensive line they had painstakingly built and were chasing off into the distance.
"They took the bait!" Ola’s breathing grew heavy, and he subconsciously tightened his grip on his warhammer. "Most of them are out! At least twenty!"
"Nicely done!" The Knights behind Ola let out suppressed cheers.
But just as quickly, his heart sank.
His spyglass was locked on the depths of the valley, where a colossal shadow remained motionless, like a mountain.
Surrounding it were ten of its most elite giant crocodile guards. They merely lifted their heads, coldly watching their companions give chase, showing no intention of leaving whatsoever.
To make matters worse, the giant crocodile leader seemed to have noticed something.
It slowly raised its massive head, its golden, slitted pupils beginning to scan the various entrances at the edge of the hollows!
In that instant, Ola felt every hair on his body stand on end.
’It’s not my imagination! That beast knows it’s a trap!’
"We’re screwed!" Ola hissed two words through clenched teeth, his heart pounding. "It’s looking for us! It never fell for the bait! It’s waiting for us to show ourselves!"
The Knights behind him also felt that oppressive gaze and held their breath.
Ola shifted his grip on his warhammer, his muscles tensing. He turned his head to look at Velin, ready to propose his own plan: he would lead the Knights in a forced charge from the flank, tearing open a breach at any cost.
Velin was still holding his spyglass, not even turning his head. He just said calmly, "Don’t be hasty, Ola. Wait a little longer. Enjoy the show."
"Enjoy the show?!"
Ola’s temper flared. He almost roared, ’Wait to die?’
Just as Ola’s reason was about to be burned away by his anger and anxiety...
...a dazzling light erupted without warning from the other end of the valley—it was Ryo, casting the Light Skill!
The light was stunningly bright, instantly illuminating the entire swamp as if it were day and causing a sharp, stinging pain in everyone’s eyes, which had just adapted to the dark.
Ola reflexively squeezed his eyes shut, but the intense light still pierced through his eyelids.
What followed wasn’t the sound of fighting, but a completely different kind of roar.
It was the roar of the Gray Swamp Giant Crocodile leader, but this time, its voice held none of its previous majesty and fury. Instead, there was... something Ola had never heard before. ’Panic?’
Ola forced his eyes open, fighting through the discomfort to look.
He saw the hundred-odd Bader Dung Beetles. Under the cover of the Light Skill, they weren’t fighting the giant crocodiles at all. Instead, they were surging like a black mudslide straight toward a hollow in the deepest part of the valley.
There, densely packed and half-buried in the mud, were crocodile eggs.
"Attacking their young..." Ola muttered to himself, the doubt on his face replaced by immense shock. "So that was the real objective!"
’The first wave of noise wasn’t to lure out the leader. It was to clear out the grunts on the periphery, exposing the true weak point.’
’Attacking the nest—that was the real dagger to the heart!’
The giant crocodile leader let out a short hiss at its guards. Half of them—five elite giant crocodiles—led the other crocodiles in the middle of the hollow, stampeding toward the nesting ground.
Now, only the last five guards remained by the leader’s side.
Ola turned his head and looked at Velin with a complicated expression.
’This guy... from the very beginning, he wasn’t counting on the crocodile’s intelligence, but on its instincts as a leader of its people—as a mother!’
Only then did Velin finally lower his spyglass. His face showed no smug satisfaction of a successful scheme, only the relief of a chess master after making a crucial move.
He turned his head, and his wine-red eyes in the darkness made Ola’s blood run cold.
"Ola, it’s very angry right now, and also very afraid. Its guard is in disarray."
"It’s your turn."
"Help me shatter its skull."